From Bloomberg:

Shoichi Nakagawa, the policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said China's rising military spending may cause Japan to fall under the country's influence, the Sankei newspaper reported earlier today, citing his comments.

``If something were to happen to Taiwan in the next 15 years, then within 20 years, Japan might become just another Chinese province,'' Nakagawa said yesterday at a speech in Nagoya according to the Sankei.

Nakagawa characterized annual increases in Chinese military spending of between 15 and 18 percent as a ``serious situation,'' the newspaper said.